Southern California has experienced an elevation in sea lion strandings since January. As of April 14, more than 1,000 sea lion pups have been stranded this year alone. The majority of the pups (most of which are malnourished and dangerously underweight) are brought to rehabilitation facilities run by the National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF).

Earlier this week, NMMF launched a series of daily videos called S.O.S.: Saving Our Sea Lions. These S.O.S. videos give you a behind-the-scenes look at how sea lion pups are rehabilitated once they’re brought to NMMF.

“Our hope is that this YouTube miniseries will provide the public with a window into the ongoing crisis, the coordinated response to it, and the need to determine what might be causing the alarming number of sea lion pups to strand along southern California beaches,” said NMMF Executive Director Dr. Cynthia Smith.

You can see parts one and two below. Check back for more parts soon! To learn more about the California sea lion strandings, check out this post.

About the Author

About the Author: Emily Tripp is the Publisher and Editor of MarineScienceToday.com. She holds marine science and biology degrees from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and a Master of Advanced Studies degree in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. When she's not writing about marine science, she's probably running around outside or playing with her dog. More from this author.

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